God Is On The Move
by EmilyGraceWrites
Summary: My personal testimony about how God took a tiny moment in my everyday life and turned it into something that changed my life forever!


**Hello everyone! I'm EmilyGraceWrites. This is my first story with my new account. I used an old one years ago, but I haven't logged on in so long. To start up, I figured I'd tell you my personal testimony. Fyi, my friend, SwimmerNinja13, is in this, but I'll be referring to her by her actual name with her permission.**

I've been around church my whole life. My mom and dad were always involved in the kids program, and I was along for the ride. I liked the Bible stories and the songs, sure, but the message didn't really click for me. Death didn't seem real to me, and Heaven seemed to be a backup plan in case something happened.

Death first became real at eleven years old. I remember it being my turn off. Sure I believed in God, but why would He do this? If he was so powerful, why couldn't he save my Grandma?

I remember being confused. My best friend had just lost her Grandma to Alzheimer's, the same disease, and already a month later, she was skipping through the clouds like nothing had ever happened. It wasn't that Esther hadn't loved her Grandma, she had. She wrote stories about all her memories with her Grandma all the time. I figured it must've brought her comfort.

I tried that too. It didn't work. I wrote down every memory I could remember of my Grandma. The trip she had taken me and my brother on to the zoo, the nights she had babysat for us when our parents were working, sitting at her coffee table eating chocolate ice cream and playing chutes and ladders. My journal entries brought comfort temporarily, but the pain of losing Grandma always came back.

Esther, I realized had something I didn't. I understood it on some level, but not the greatest. Esther really trusted God with her life. She was always doodling Bible verses on her math homework and carrying around her devotional to sleepovers. I got a devotional too. I read it, but the words didn't stick.

The next few years sort of went by in a blur. Swim and school kept me busy, and when I wasn't doing that, I was hanging out with friends or posting stuff on my latest addiction: fanfiction. I posted a bunch for a little while, then quit when I became disappointed with it. Nothing seemed to fill the hole in my life. My family switched churches twice in that time. First when our original church started teaching some controversial subjects, second when our church was starting up a new church and we were asked to be part of the launch team.

Esther's dad was asked to lead worship, and my dad took charge of the kids wing. It was great. We've been having church at a school, so we got to hang out in the mornings while helping set up. It wasn't that we didn't see each other enough during the week, believe me, we did, but Sunday mornings were our chance to have personal chats.

It just so worked out that I volunteered for first grade, and Esther did kindergarten on Sundays. We've combined groups for games ever since. We got comments from the parents that the kids loved us and learned a ton. Even though I couldn't see it, God must've been working a miracle through me. The kids were learning and it couldn't have been me who taught them. I barely understood myself.

A year passed, and my dad asked Esther and I to help start up the music program for the kids. It was simple really. We picked different praise songs off of YouTube and made up motions for them. Esther and I joked that my dad must've made some mistake, or he was really desperate. We've never really been dancers, and our motions for the songs weren't the greatest. There was a reason why we'd both quit dance when we were little. Still, the kids seemed to enjoy it and could easily be bribed to join us up front in exchange for candy.

January fifteenish, Esther gave me a phone call saying she had news. She thought it was good news. I couldn't see how. Her family would be moving to Ecuador in the summer. It was easy to tell Esther was excited, but I couldn't share her excitement. Who would be my distance buddy at swim? Who would hang out with me around church? Who could I share Google docs of all the stories I was thinking up with for editing? Would I ever see her again?

Life just got rough after that. Esther got super hyped for Ecuador and began packing and unpacking then packing again. She had sort of given up on everything that kept her from being with all of us in our friend group. She wanted to spend as much time as she could with friends before leaving. I wanted her to just stay here.

Our pre church talks got more one-sided. Esther mentioned on several occasions that I could come and visit her over the summers. I didn't want to. I couldn't see any good in going to the country that would be stealing my best friend away from me.

School and swim were easier. With other girls our age around, it was easier to forget what was happening soon. Other topics were easier. How were our grades? All A's as typical? What were we swimming this weekend? The 500 and thousand. What did we think of our last work out? It was hard.

That went on for some time.

It wasn't until Sunday, February 12, a day I'll never forget that things started to look up. Esther and I were doing our usual two songs before the large group leader came up. First was No One Higher. It came and went like usual. Then God Is On The Move came.

It was fun, watching the kids faces light up. "This is my favorite!" One of the girls in the front exclaimed. Truth was, it had been my favorite too. Even when I wasn't really, truly believing in Jesus, I had still mostly listened to Christian music all my life, and ever since first hearing it, I couldn't help but love it.

The chorus came and with it, tears I fought to keep from letting out in front of everybody. I couldn't help it. What I saw looking back at me was more beautiful than any other sight in the world.

Forty some kids altogether singing, dancing, proclaiming, "God is on the move, on the move, hallelujah! God is on the move in many mighty ways! God is on the move, on the move, hallelujah! God is on the move, on the move today!"

How could anyone doubt that God is Real when there's these kids sung to Him with such faith? The idea of what it meant to have child like faith became very clear to me. This was the type of faith God wanted all of us to have. This was the type of faith that could move mountains.

What had I been doing all this time?

When the song was over and the large group leader took over, Esther took my hand and pulled me along to the bathroom, the one room where all our emotional talks took place. If I remember right, I was even standing in the bathroom when Esther told me she was moving to Ecuador.

I started bawling uncontrollably. Esther pulled me tight into a and just held me there, "Do you want me to pray for you?" She asked.

I nodded and there in the bathroom, we held hands and prayed. Esther went first. She prayed her heart out for me. It meant so much. No one had ever done something like that for me.

Then it was my turn.

I prayed like I never had before. It wasn't just a prayer to bless the food I was eating, or to beg God to help me through a tough math test. It was a real prayer. I gave my life over to God. Completely.

And I had never felt better.

I remember walking back into the kids room completely new. No longer did I carry the weight of bitterness and doubt on my shoulders. I had a skip in my step. I was joyful!

Since then, I'll admit, my life hasn't been absolutely perfect. It's been crazy. But I think that's the point. Faith doesn't give you a free ticket to the easy life. Faith gets tested so that it will become stronger. No matter what, everything that happens in my life circles back to God. And he's doing crazy thing in my life.

Crazy amazing things.

 **So, I hope you all enjoyed and maybe thought about a thing or two. Before I go though, I need to make one thing clear. SwimmerNinja13 isn't actually moving to Ecuador anymore. Her little, little brother gets seizures really often, and for that reason, they've decided not to go. Swimmer was really hurt by this, so please keep her in your prayers. I do believe that in time though God will send her across the world to be a missionary. Until then, we're just gonna keep praying. Adios amigos!**

 **#God Is On The Move!**


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